Interrogation
by Aitrus5
Summary: Gehn and Catherine have a little "talk" on Prison Island


Interrogation  
  
Note: This takes place before you, the player, see Gehn for the first time in Age 233 and after his journal entry about her only answering questions in her own language. This is after a few unsuccessful visits, I believe. Enjoy!   
  
With a sudden tingle through his palm, he was back on Age Five.  
He trod upon the buttton that restarted the dome with his foot, and inhaled the brisk air. He looked around, noting that even with his D'ni goggles on, the rest of the islands on the Age were getting farther and farther away. The Prison loomed before him, stark and uninviting. The Tree that had once graced it's prescence was long gone, chopped down by his Bookmakers and turned into paper. It had also removed a coveted symbol from the minds of the villagers.   
Gehn sighed. This world was collapsing and there was not a thing he could do to stop it. The knives that had appeared around the island the day his son had disappeared had done only so much. It was all his Maintainers could do to manage the pipes and tracks that connected island to island.   
He walked up the steps and sat the basket down. He pulled on the cord and watched as the elevator rose, floor rising, and the prison came into view.   
He waited a moment for her to enter from the balcony.  
"Ye pa dreaka-" she halted abruptly as she saw who had arrived. "Naplea ka so na'ma tesah!" she said curtly.  
"Nelah." he said warmly in her own language. Her normally straight mouth dropped slightly.  
"You think that I have spent 30 years on this world and have not learned a smattering of language?" he spoke now in D'ni. It felt good to speak it to somebody who would no doubt know it fluently. It was like trying to talk to infants with his own Guilds at times. The children who had attended their lessons for years now were finally attaining some measure of ability.   
"I think you are a madman." Her body leaned forward, her fists clenched, as if she expected him to leap through the bars and ravage her like a wild beast.   
"Let us not quibble over my state of mind. I came to deliver this." He shoved the small basket through the bars. "I thought you might be hungry since our last visit."  
She eyed the basket hungrily, but made no move.   
"Come, come, even the great Savior must eat."  
She muttered a curse in Rivenese at him. "Yes, I know all about your status among your people. It must have been quite a shock to return and see how much damage you have done to them."  
Her eyes flashed in disbelief.  
"Oh yes. You heard me."  
"I?" she spat at him. "It is you who have done this. You've tortured and used my people-"  
"Ah, finally, she speaks!" he smiled. "Do you want to have a civilized conversation, or shall I go and leave you to stare out at the sea for a few more weeks?"  
"I have nothing to say to you. It shames me to call you a relative of mine."  
"All I want are a few answers, Catherine. That is not so much to ask, is it?"  
"You are the one who has much to answer for, 'Lord' Gehn." she sneered.   
"I am not the one who has put her own people at risk."   
"What are you talking about?"  
Gehn was amused. She truly did not know? "Your being here was the worst thing that could have happened to your people. Now there is murder and violence in the village. Riots have broken out. The Moitey have upset everything. The few I have captured tell me you are the one who has inspired all this, to revolt against their lord and master."  
"No..."   
"Atrus would be proud, I believe. To know his wife was the inspiration for revolts ending in violence."  
"Stop it!" she nearly shouted at him.  
"Deny it all you wish, it won't make the truth any harder to bear, Catherine." he said gently. He leaned his face against the bars and watched as she eyed the room hurridly, possibly for the hundredth time, looking for a way out.   
"I have nearly finished writing a new Age, you know. My 234th to date. He beamed. "It really is quite beautiful. A safe haven for my people. Well, the loyal ones, at least."  
A sputtering of anger.   
"I have had failures in the past, but I have refined my techniques considerably. I believe this Age will be stable and remain for all time."  
"You don't have the skill. You think of the Art as nothing but a tool...to experiment with." she spoke from beneath clenched teeth.   
He ignored her. "You remind me of Keta, do you know that? Atrus's mother..." he trailed off. Catherine tried to keep herself from squirming as a genuinly loving expression worked it's way onto Gehn's face. "He never knew her." he said.   
"You babble like a speared whark." she hissed, not sure which side of Gehn was more disturbing. "Get out. I grow sick of the sight of you."  
"I am not an evil man, Catherine. But I am a desperate one. I *have* changed. Of course, Atrus does not realize this. He knows only the man I was 30 years ago. I wish to...make ammends to him. And to you. By saving the people of this Age."  
Her retort was one Rivenese word that he knew thoroughly.  
"I only wish to save the villagers from this dying world. I only wish to save my own culture from extinction." He spoke frankly, openly. "I refine my creations so that I may help D'ni return to it's former glory. Any obstacles in that path must not be tolerated."   
"I am being open with you, Catherine, so that you may do the same in return." he finished quietly.   
She just looked at him and shook her head as if he were a child who didn't know any better. It infuriated him.   
"Why did you come here, Catherine?" he spoke firmly. "You must have known this would happen. What was it? Did you miss your family?"  
She answered with a rapid babble in her own language he couldn't pick up on.  
"I know I miss mine. My father was a great man, the envy of D'ni. And you would have liked Keta. Her people, the Amad, were strong. They lived on nothing...thrived even. It was her who convinced me that there might be something to go back too...but I stray..."  
He cleared his throat. "What are Atrus's plans? What is he after? I know he is doing something to this world. Repairing it. Was this his intention all along? It only began after you came to be here..."   
Nothing.  
"The violence will only intensify against the villagers with you away, Catherine. Oh certainly, it will die down for a small period of time. Then, frustration will grow. More will suffer because of your stubborness."  
Nothing. Her face was a mask. She wasn't even looking at him.  
"I will not tolerate this silence." His voice grew lower, harsher. "There are too many things I need to know. Where are the Moitey hiding? What are their plans?"  
Her eyes were like black fire marbles, the rarest of the rare.   
His voice slithered. "Tell me, do you have a family, wherever you and my son went? I hope you didn't have children, you and Atrus. As I have experienced, children can be...disappointing."  
The marble cracked, and Catherine's lip quivered before a tremendous effort of will covered it up and he smiled inwardly. One day, all knowledge would be his. It was just a matter of time.   
"I am sad that Atrus was born from such a man." she said suddenly, staring at him. "I weep that I was born on a world that will die shortly because you are not the 'god' you wish you were."  
Gehn's eyes were cold, dead. "What. Is Atrus. Planning."   
"You are a fanatic. A poor man who compensates for his shortcomings by destroying others. You write...no...you scribble the Art as if you could simply conjure D'ni back into existence. You do not write your dreams, you live with your nightmares. It is gone, Gehn! I am sorry, but they are no more!"   
His lips curled back from his teeth, his face a skull. "Be silent, woman!"  
"Atrus is more a part of the D'ni than you will ever be."  
A slight gasp escaped her lips as her hand slapped up against her neck. She gurgled as she slid to the ground.   
He stood, shaking with rage, lowering his rifle without even realizing what he had done.   
Opening the bars of the cage, he stepped in.  
  
  
"Ooooooh..." she moaned. A salt breeze through her nostrils made her head ache.   
Then the screaming began.  
Her eyes snapped open and she stared wildly around.  
Her village lay spread out below her. A towering structure made of brass and whark bones stood out starkly against the placid lagoon.   
And hanging from the gallows...  
"MMMMMMPH!" she screamed into her gag.  
"Ah, you're awake. How marvelous." a dignified voice besides her spoke.  
She turned slightly in the chair she was tied too, to behold Gehn a few feet above her, in a golden throne.  
A part of her noted in this manner, he really did look like a god...  
"My pets are hungry." stated Gehn coldly. "I've not fed them since I caught you. Usually, they do fine  
on their own, feeding on fish and the stray Moitey boat, but in this case..." he indicated the gallows. "I feel the need to make an exception."  
"MmmMMmMMMM!"   
He removed her gag. "Feeling a little more talkative now, Catherine?"  
"You can't do this!"  
"Oh, but you see, I can. I wrote this world into existence. I created it. And therefore, it is mine to do with as I please." And he pulled the lever.  
Catherine wished her hands were free so she could cover her ears as the horrible sounds began, then intensified.   
Tears streamed down from her closed eyelids.   
His voice whispered, harsh and grating into her ear. "Sooner or later, I will get to someone you know. How will that feel, Catherine? How will it feel knowing that you personally destroyed the life of your best friend? Your parents? A former lover? You have already caused them great suffering by coming back here. Why punish them with your silence?"  
In her mind, she was back on Myst Island, the hot sun on her skin, her two little boys building things in the sand, her husband smiling at her from his writing desk. "Atrus..." she whispered, her heart like a lead weight in her chest.   
"Yes...? What was that?" He leaned down.  
"You'll never see D'ni again." she said, staring at him, speaking flawless D'ni.  
A cold fury gripped Gehn, and he nearly tossed her off the cliff. "How many more, Catherine!" he raged. The god was indeed angry. "What shall I do next? Throw you into the Star Fissure? Something else?"  
"Never again." she whispered.  
Gehn's anger was palpable, washing over her like a wave. "Once, in the early days, an assistant, not understanding the ramifications, thought it would be a lark to place both of his hands on two seperate linking books."  
She was horrified.   
"Have you ever seen what happens when such an unheard of thing is done? Well, I have. I had nightmares about it for days. The pain seemed quite unimagineable. Think on that, Catherine."   
Struggling, she spat at his feet.  
Gehn loomed above her. "You are mad, girl! You understand the Art, you were the smartest, most talented and beautiful of all the people on this island. You knew what I was trying to do. You know what the D'ni are! And yet, you continue to frustrate my efforts!"   
His hands gripped the chair, moving it towards the cliff edge.   
"Lord Gehn!"  
"What is it, fool!" Catherine heard Gehn say from above her.  
"A...a visitor has come!"  
"What?!"  
"Went into the cage...I grabbed the book, like you say."  
"You have a book!" Gehn gasped. "Where is it? Give it to me!"  
Catherine could almost hear the man sob with his next statement.  
"Cannot, Master. The...the Moitey came...beat me...the cage broken....took the book!"   
She shut her eyes tightly as a snarl of rage escaped Gehn's lips. "Usless...utterly usless savages...all of you!"   
His face appeared in her line of vision again, amazingly calm. "Well...it appears you will remain usefull to me after all, Catherine. These newest developments force me to postpone your...martyrdom."   
She was not listening. Why had Atrus come? Why had he risked himself? The other Ages? It made no sense...unless he had a plan. He had to have a plan. Atrus did nothing without thinking it thoroughly first. She comforted herself with that fact.   
She prayed to the Maker that she would see him again, and her sons.  
Now, she would need only wait.  
She was still praying when the dart hit her neck.  
  
"So it wasn't Atrus..." mused Gehn. "He sent a stranger?" Abruptly, he looked up at the frightened Rivenese man. "Take her back to the Prison Island." he snarled. "And send a team of Builders to fix the cage."  
"Yes, mighty lord." babbled the man, bowing as he walked backwards, nearly falling over himself in his effort to please.  
He linked back to his office on Age 233 and collapsed onto his bed. His mind was reeling from the days events. So much to absorb! He was tired...so tired. 30 years of fighting, building, convincing. 30 years of homesickness. 30 more years without his beloved wife. 30 and a score years of trying to learn the Art with the equivalent of a child's education and half remembered phrases...   
His mission was all. He would pay any price. The D'ni would live again. He would make them great. He puffed on his pipe as he wrote in his journal.  
  
87.7.30 Damn these savages! I would be well advised to leave them all in the  
Fifth Age and begin again with a clean sheet of paper!  
A stranger has arrived on Riven ~ with a Linking Book to D'ni! And once  
again my useless minion was overtaken by the rebels. From what little I could  
decipher from his muddled explanation, it apparently occurred sometime this  
morning. The cage has been damaged, but it is no matter ~ everything I need is  
here now. Atrus is certainly behind this, yet how could he be so foolish as to  
send someone here with a Linking Book? Such blatancy is unlike him. Could it  
be that he has had a change of heart? After all these years, is he finally letting  
his poor old father go? No, he's only after one thing ~ perhaps he should find  
her.  
For now, I need only to wait and observe.  
  
As he did every night, he stared at his father's portrait and remembered. A child's memories of the only place he ever truly called home floated through his mind, a child's happy memories of his father, and even of his mother. His father's loving voice, telling him to be brave, it was the D'ni way. He wouldn't let his father down as his son had.   
  
Soon...he would finally be home.   
  
  
The End.  
  



End file.
